Williston voted #9 among North American oil capitals
In North America --- Canada, USA, and Mexico -- oil executives vote Williston #9 of 10 oil capitals, ahead of Edmonton, in 10th position.
The Tulsa World conducted an informal and mostly anonymous poll asking oil and gas insiders to rank the so-called Oil Capitals of North America. The group included executives and analysts in Tulsa, Dallas, Oklahoma City, Houston and on the East Coast.When you see the list, it is amazing Williston is even on the list (considering the food shortage, lack of water, sewer, electricity, and no more room on the highways). Ten years ago, nay, five years ago, who would have guessed.
But it explains why Williston is getting two daily flights to Minneapolis: more and more corporate (and not just oil industry) execs are flying into Williston. Sure, some of the CEOs have their own corporate jets, but not all, and certainly not the mid-level managers.
Here's the list (be sure to look at the honorable mention list; those cities that did not make the list):
1. Houston: HQ for almost every major companyPopulation of each city:
2. Calgary: Center of Canadian oil and coal industries
3. Oklahoma City: Devon, Chesapeake, SandRidge, Continental Resources
4. Tulsa: Energy diversity, Williams, ONEOK, manufacturing
5. Dallas-Fort Worth: Barnett Shale, Exxon Mobil offices
6. Denver: Cimarex, gateway to Piceance, Niobrara Shale
7. Midland, Texas: Permian Basin hub
8. New Orleans: Hub of Gulf Coast operations and shipping
9. Williston, N.D.: Bakken Shale. Can you say "Boomtown!"
10. Edmonton: Hub for Alberta oil and gas activity
Honorable mentions: New York, Cushing, Los Angeles, Casper, Wyo.
Houston: 2.1 millionNo city in Mexico or Wyoming made the top-ten list; Salt Lake City didn't even make honorable mention, nor did Billings, Montana.
Calgary: 1.1 million
Oklahoma City: 600,000
Tulsa: 400,000
Dallas-Ft Worth: 6.4 million
Denver: 600,000
Midland, TX: 140,000
New Orleans: 1.2 million --> 350,000
Williston: 13,000 --> 20,000 (best estimate)
Edmonton, Alberta: 1 million
A big "thank you" to a reader for alerting me to the story.
Midland 48,000. ROFL. Are they using census from 40-50 years ago when oil was almost $3?
ReplyDeleteanon 1
My bad. My mistake. I noticed that when I wrote it, it seemed low, and was going to re-check and then forgot. I have corrected it. Closer to 140,000, I believe. Hopefully that's better.
ReplyDeleteWould be interesting to know how many jobs the Bakken has added to Houston, OKC, Denver etc as well as the USA. OKC is really a city on the move with CRL, Devon, SD, and CHK. If the Mississippian Lime works out in N OK and S KS, watch out for OKC.
ReplyDeleteMetro populations should be used for comparison, not city limit populations.
The Permian Basin has 500,000 people - with practically its entire economy based on oil. Could easily see the Bakken adding 200,000 people to ND/MT, but with that population much more highly dispersed along Highway 2 and down through Watford to Killdeer to Dickinson.
I think you are exactly right. The executives, when voting, no doubt, took a look at all the employees they have had to hire in their headquarters offices (Dallas, Houston, Tulsa, Denver) to support their Bakken operations, and thus Williston came to mind.
DeleteThe oil industry is much, much more familiar with the Williston Basin than most long-term Williston residents -- at least that's my hunch. To an oilman, "Williston" means oil. And that was even before the current boom.
Bruce, do you think they wil build a big museum on oil in Williston, just like the one in Midland ,tx.???
ReplyDeleteOdessa of the north, just give it 20 more years
A good location would be about 8 miles west of Williston. They can use the BEXP building -- a beautiful building -- as the entrance, bookstore, and museum shop. And I think they will have a 6-well pad in the immediate area.
DeleteAnd, of course, Statoil (Norwegian) women as guides.